The Unwanted Romance of Jenny and Lil
by indy the boff
Summary: A romantic story, with plenty of Fluff, and a lot of Angst, for you angsty people. LJ SOC ROC and suprisingly POC. (He doesn't get her in the end, don't worry)
1. Default Chapter

The Unwanted Romance of Jenny And Lil

By Pippa Mitchell

~Jenny~  
Dear Diary,  
My name's Jennifer Viviane Le Fae. I'm 11 and I just got on the train to Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I kinda expected to get in, coz my Dad's a pureblood and my Mum's a muggle born. Still, I wasn't sure. I'm so nervous. I hope I get sorted into Gryffindor. Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff wouldn't be too bad, but Slytherin Ugh! Hang on, a girl just walked into the compartment. Gotta go.  
Jen.  
  
"D'you mind if I sit here?" the girl asked, her red hair flying round her face." Everyone else seemed to have someone to talk to."  
"Sure" Jenny answered, secretly glad that someone looked as nervous as she felt. The girl had evidently tried to hide it, but the worry shone out through her big emerald eyes.  
"I'm Lily Evans," the girl said.  
"Jennifer Le Fae." Jenny returned.  
"Are you related to Morgan?" asked Lily in awe.  
"I dunno, frankly," Her opposite number returned," But my family comes from the same part of the country though."  
"Wow." Lily responded.  
Suddenly, the door to their compartment was thrown open and two boys came hurtling in, totally ignoring the two girls.  
~Lily~  
Dear Diary,  
I'm walking down the corridor on the Hogwarts express on my way to WIZARDS SCHOOL! The only problem is everyone in the compartments has someone to talk to. Hang on a minute, this girl doesn't. She's really pretty, diary dear. She has dark brown shoulder length ringlets, streaked with ginger and blonde, and her eyes are icy blue ringed with Navy. She's writing in her diary too! I've just got too psyche up the courage to ask her. Okay, here goes.

Seeya

Lils  
The boys were almost identical, both had dark brown hair and they were the same height as well. That was until you looked at their eyes. One had caramels Hazel eyes, almost Amber, Lily thought. The other's were an incredibly dark brown, almost black.  
"Thank god we got in here before Snivellus saw us!" exclaimed Hazel eyes.  
The two minutes it had taken for the girls to react, had been more than enough to get there anger glands into gear.  
"Firstly, who or what the hell is Snivellus?" Jenny burst out, her voice icy and calm.  
"And Secondly, What the fuck are you doing in our compartment?" Her friend continued, her voice fiery and Out of control.  
\"Oh! Hi girls\" Brown eyes said, obviously embarrassed at not noticing the girls presence.  
"Anyway," Hazel eyes continued smoothly. "Snivellus is a putrid ball of grease (A/N: don't ask me what putrid means coz I haven't got a clue, it just sounds horrible. Anyway) and we're in your compartment because we couldn't pass up the chance to get to know two such lovely ladies." he ended, seating himself next to Lily, whilst his friend sat next to Jenny. The girls exchanged identical looks of disgust at this, and began to mime being sick.  
"Now, now, ladies, that is hardly a practice for young ladies to take part in." brown eyes said, grabbing Jenny's wrists, whilst his friend took Lily's.  
"My name is Sirius Black, and my associate over there is James Potter." Sirius continued, pompously.  
Suddenly, an idea dawned in both the girls' minds. They looked at each other, and grinned evilly.  
"On the count of three, " Lily said. "One, Two Three!"  
"Petrificus Totallus!" They both yelled, and ran out of the compartment,   
taking their Luggage with them.

Half way down the corridor they finally stopped for breath.  
"I can't believe I just did that!" Lily exclaimed, "That is like, the worst thing I've ever done in my life!"  
"THAT'S the worst thing you've ever done?! " Cried Jenny incredulously. "Lils, you have never lived!"  
"So I'm a goodie-three-shoes, big deal!" Lily replied, exasperated at her friend. "Let's find another compartment."  
They walked down the corridor a bit further and found a compartment with only two first years in it.  
"You first!" Lily offered.  
"Fine!" Jenny replied, muttering under her breath "Cowardy custard."  
The two first years were both girls. One, with her nose buried in a book, had very long, shiny, black hair, pulled into a plait. She was obviously of Indian descent (Asian, not American), and had beautiful amber eyes hidden behind half moon glasses. She had a tall slender frame, and was already in her hogwarts robes. The other girl was entirely different. She was gazing out the window, longingly, and her short blonde curls were flapping around in her face. Jenny couldn't see her eyes, but with looks like that, they had to be Periwinkle blue.  
The Indian girl looked up and saw Jenny and Lily.  
\"Hey, Jen! Who's your friend?"  
"Hi Jess! Lily, this is Jessvinder Poonam Hartliegh. Jess, this is my new friend Lillian Marie Evans. In other words, new friend Lil, meet old friend Jess."  
"How do you know each other?" Lily asked.  
"My dad works with the prince of Darkness." Jess stated  
"Huh?"  
"My nickname for my Dad." Jenny explained.  
"Ohhhh." Lily added.  
"Aaanyway, Jess, who's dreamer over there?" Jenny continued.  
"Dunno, she was here when I arrived. She hasn't said a word to me all this time."  
"Well then, "Jenny replied. "It's high time she started."  
Jenny went over to the girl and sat beside her, mischief glinting in her eyes. She put her mouth right next to the girl\'s ear and shouted "Boo!"  
The girl jumped and turned around, her head hitting Jenny smack in the face.  
"Ow" Jenny shouted  
"It serves you right!" Lily returned, indignantly. " Anyway, hon, what's your name?"  
"Emmeline Julia Andrews," she answered, her voice shaking. "But people call me Em"  
"That sounds kinda cute, doesn't it!" Jess exclaimed.  
"Huh?" the others replied bewildered.  
"Urrrrrgggghhh!" Jess said, in mock exasperation. "Lil, Jen, Jess, Em!"  
"It does." Lily added. "'Sam, I've got a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship'."  
"Huh?" the purebloods asked.  
"Muggle film reference."

Jenny opened her eyes sleepily, and gazed bleary-eyed at her alarm clock.  
"6 o'clock! Too Early." She muttered, but then got out of bed anyway. She walked over to the mirror and looked at her reflection. In six years, she hadn't really changed much. Jenny still had the same thin, pale, heart shaped face, with the same icy blue eyes, which could be so chilling. She even still had the same wild, frizzy, bed head, dark brown, with ginger, blonde and black streaks. She turned away, and went for her shower. Five minutes later, she returned, her hair dripping wet. She grinned to herself.  
"Now for some fun."  
She walked over to Lily's bed and began squeezing her hair out on her best friend's face. Lily suddenly screamed and sat up in bed.  
"Jennifer Le Fae, you utter bitch! I ought to curse you to Albuquerque!" Lily shouted.  
"But you won't," Her friend replied, "Because I know twice as many, twice as nasty curses as you, and I'd be sure to put them into practice!"  
Lily didn't reply to this, but began muttering something about "Rotten Gaelic curses, I dunno, why did I have to be best friends with someone who's bloody Gaelic!"  
"I heard that, little Lilums!"  
"Right that's it! Gaelic curses or no Gaelic curses, EMBORA MICHELDE!" Jenny suddenly reappeared from the bathroom, with dry hair, but purple boils all over her face.  
"Finite Incantatem. You've asked for it Lils. FERENZO BELIDIA!!! Oh, and MEMBRIS IRIDIUM!"  
Lily's skin was not only the same colour as her fiery red hair, it was glowing too, and it made her look like she was on fire. As if that wasn't bad enough, when she tried to speak, all that came out of her mouth was a crackling sound, not unlike a fire burning.  
Jenny straightened her hair with a simple charm, whilst Lily did the same. The others, who had been woken up by all the shouting, stared at Lily in amazement.  
"That your doing, I suppose?" Jess asked, pointing at Lily.  
"Oh no, I only take credit for her skin!" Jenny replied, smugly.  
"You know what she meant!" Em returned, walking into the bathroom.  
"How'd' you know all these curses anyway?" Dinah, the fifth member of their dormitory, enquired.  
"My cousins taught me a few. Not very many though, coz they stopped talking to me the instant I got into Gryffindor. The rest, I just say something in Gaelic and see what happens." Jenny replied, airily getting into her robes. "For instance, on Lily here, I said Fire Skin and crackle voice."  
With this final remark, she tied a ribbon at the base of her French plait, and swept out the room, closely followed by Lily, who had tamed her hair into a silky ponytail.  
She quickly transfigured two sweet wrappers into a pencil and pad.  
'Take these off' she wrote, 'Or Else I'll go to McGonagall.'  
" In a second Lils." Jenny quickly agreed, seeing who she wanted at the top of the stairs.  
"Well, well, what have we here?" Sirius asked amusedly. "Who is the master prankster behind this piece of work?" He looked around, expecting to see James or Remus smiling and nodding. Instead, Jenny stood up and took a stately bow.  
"You?!" He exclaimed, "Well, I'm definitely gonna want you for a girlfriend now! Will you out with me?" He asked quickly.  
"If we have any balls this year, I'll consider going with you to them." She promised, and added "can you be quiet now please, I have to take these curses off Lily, and the counter curse is quite hard." She was quiet for a second and then said "Wensefo, Arania, Dementia." And with those words, Lily's skin and voice returned to normal.  
"Thank you Jenny" Lily said gratefully, "But next time, can you turn me back before Potter and his Cronies come down?"  
"Why?" Her friend replied playfully. "Don't want the boy you fancy seeing you as a log fire?"  
"Do you like me Evans?" James asked, amusement, with what Lily thought was a hint of hope in his voice.  
"Of course not. Jess, Em, see you at breakfast. Come on Jen." Lily said quickly, dragging her friend out of the portrait hole, hoping that the boys couldn't see her face, which was once again, as red as her hair.  
"Liiiiiiiilllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy, what did you do that for? I wanted to tease Sirius." Jenny asked, mock disappointment ringing in her voice.  
"You mean you wanted to flirt with him." Lily stated, attempting seriousness, but collapsing into giggles.  
It was well known in the school that Sirius lusted after her best friend. Jenny, Lily and Jess were the only girls in the entire school who Sirius hadn't kissed. Even Em had been out with him once, but dumped him the next day, for being an 'egotistical prat.' Lily didn't know how her friend felt about Sirius, but she suspected some attraction, if not affection. It was also well known that Remus fancied Jess, but though she had no objection to him, she said she 'didn't have time for a boyfriend', and Remus respected that. Lily and Jenny knew, however, that Jess was just scared of making a fool of herself. It was also rumored that James had a thing for Lily, but as Lily was desperately trying to get over him, she squashed those rumors as soon as she heard them.  
"Just a second, you basically said yes to Sirius, didn't you?" Lily asked, suddenly serious.  
"Yeah, wh... The Pact! Oh how could I have forgotten the pact?! I'll just have to say no to him." Her friend answered, forlornly.  
The pact was an agreement the girls had made 5 years ago. They had promised that none of them would get a date to anything, if the others didn't have a date to it as well. This had actually been a problem before, like last year, their first ball, Jenny and Lily had been asked out, but the others hadn't, so they had to refuse.  
"Hey girls!" Jess shouted, running to catch up with them. "Wait up!".  
Jess and Em reached their 2 friends and immediately picked up on the air of gloom over Jenny.  
"Whatcha talking 'bout, and why's Jen upset?" Em asked, concernedly.  
"Sirius asked her out to this years balls, but she can't say yes coz none of us have got dates." Lily explained.  
"Look," Jess, the voice of reason, said. "We made that pact when we were eleven. We were little girls, who didn't want to go anywhere on our own. We're Sixteen for god's sake! It's not fair that Jenny gets asked on a date by someone she likes and then has to say no because of some stupid agreement."  
"We swore on our lives though." Lily reminded her.  
"Then we just have to find dates ourselves." Jess stated, matter-of-factly. "Coz I am not having one of my best friends being miserable because of a stupid pact. So let's go after Brekkie!"  
~James~  
Dear Diary,  
I'm writing this in transfiguration, coz I finished ages ago. I would talk to Sirius, but he's jumping around like a mad Lunatic, coz Jenny Le Fae finally said yes to him. I wish I could be that happy. My heart leaped into my mouth when Jenny said that Lily liked me. I'm sure she was just joking. Lily hates me. Just a sec, Jess Hartliegh is sneaking over to talk to me. She doesn't like me, so it must be about Lily. Please let it be about Lily, please.  
  
"Miss Hartliegh, what are you doing out of your seat?" Professor McGonagall asked sharply.  
"I'm having trouble with my toad, so I'm asking James for help, Professor McGonagall." Jess replied in an Angelic voice.  
"Be quick then!"  
"Oy James!" Jess whispered  
"What?"  
"You like Lily, am I right?"  
"Yeah, so?"  
"You have to ask her to the ball."  
"Why? She hates me."  
"Are you blind or just plain thick? She hates you about as much as Sirius hates Jenny."  
"Are you serious?"  
"Have I ever lied to you Potter?"  
"Okay then, I'll   ask her before charms."  
"Attaboy. I'm going to ask Remus, good will hunting!"  
"I can't believe what I'm hearing, thought James. "But Jess Doesn't Lie

"Hey Lils! Wait for me!"  
Lily whirled around to see her best friend standing behind her.  
"I was looking for Sirius, but I couldn't find him, and then I remembered our transfig essay!"  
"O.K. I finished that, but I've still got that diabolical one from Benzine on dragon horn."  
Professor Benzine was the girls' potions master, and he took great delight in setting long essays on obscure materials. Jenny, however, being a pureblood from a dark-arts family, never found them that hard.  
"Tell you what," Jenny said "I'll help you with Benzine's if you help me find the book on hieroglyphs I need for Ancient Languages."  
"You got yourself a deal, sis."  
The girls often referred to each other as this, as they were so close.  
As they walked in the entrance to the library, Jenny spotted something, which made her heart skip a beat. She gasped slightly, making Lily turn around.  
"What is it Jen? Oooooooooooooh."  
Lily saw what Jenny was staring at. And it wasn't pretty.  
Sirius was backing another girl, Amy Liasson from Ravenclaw, to be precise, up against the wall. He was kissing her, hard, and his hands were wandering enough to write a couple of travel books.  
Jenny's hands suddenly flew to her face; she let out a small sob, and ran out the door. The noise made Sirius turn around, thinking it was Madam Pince, the school Librarian, or worse Professor McGonagall, but all he saw was Jenny's back, and an extremely red faced Lily marching up to him. Even though he was about 5 inches taller than her, she still managed to look very intimidating. Lily narrowed her eyes and spoke in a deadly calm voice.  
"I hope you're happy with yourself, Black, because you've just broken my best friends heart. And you will be very sorry. Deadly sorry."  
With that last comment, she turned on her heel, and left, leaving behind a stunned looking Sirius and a mean looking Amy.  
"Who does that Le Fae think she is? Your girlfriend?" Amy said, sarcastically.  
"Yes, because she is - was." He corrected himself. "What did Lily mean, broken her heart?" He thought.  
~Jenny~  
Dear Diary,  
Why? Why did I have to fall in love with that bastard Black of all people? I should have squashed my feelings once and for all, when he went out with Em. At least breaking my own heart is better than him breaking it. When I was ignoring it, it never felt as bad as this. Never. Why did I have to say yes to him? Sirius Black. The player. I remember the first time he broke my heart.  
Silently, she began to turn back the pages of her diary, and then found the date she was looking for.  
31st October 1973.  
I thought Sirius cared about me. I thought it was me he liked. Well tonight certainly put pay to that theory. He turned up at the fest tonight, and as soon as he had finished tucking into his food, he started tucking into one of my best friends. Em. I know last year I didn't care two hoots about him, but at the end I really did begin to feel something. By the beginning of this term, that 'something' had developed into full-blown love. I know everyone says 12 are too young to fall in love, but I am. If he had asked me out this term, I would have said yes. I didn't really even care when he started seeing other girls. But if he really cared about me, he wouldn't have started snogging my best friend. I'm fed up with it. I'm fed up with being in love, and all it's pitfalls. I'm tired of the pain. From this day forth, all my feelings for Sirius will be firmly buried. It may break my heart again doing so, but I don't care. I was just another conquest to him. Just another number in his little red book.  
  
"Jen?" Lily asked, tentatively.  
"Lily, is that you?" Jenny replied, rearing her tear stained face and messy head. "Oh Lils!" She cried, flinging her arms around her friend's neck, and quietly sobbing into her shoulder.  
"It's all right Jen. Just let it all out." Her friend soothingly replied, rubbing Jenny's back. "Sirius was completely out of order doing what he did to you!" She continued, fiercely.  
Jenny slowly drew away from her friend, and sat back on her four-poster.  
"I...I know, but I can't help it! I lo...love him!"  
"What?! I knew you were upset when I saw your face, but... why didn't you ever tell us about it?"  
"I tr...tried to stop, after Em, but I ju..just couldn't. So I pret...pretended it didn't exist. But it di...didn't work. It's 3 ye...years later, and I still lo..love him!" Jenny stuttered, in between sobs. She paused as a fresh wave of tears broke forth from her eyes.  
"It's alright Jen. Everyone thinks what he did was cruel. Except him, that bastard James, and Peter-the-tag-along." Lily continued supportively, her anger ringing in her voice as she mentioned the boys.  
The next day, Jenny came down from the dormitory, her tears cleaned and looking as fresh as ever. She was obviously pretending she didn't care. Waiting for her were Jess, Lily, Remus and Em. They didn't mention Sirius to her, Lily having told them that Jenny was still in love with him. On the way to Potions, their first lesson, Sirius attempted to approach the group.  
"Jenny, I need to talk..." But before he could finish, Jenny shouted at him "Befenzoar Delamirnis".  
Sirius was catapulted at the wall and his voice was replaced with a small squeaking noise.  
"I don't want to talk, Black." Jenny replied Icily.  
From then on, every time Sirius attempted to talk to Jenny, he received a curse or a hex or a jinx of some sort. Jenny lost count of the different ones she had used on him. A tiny part of her told her that she should hear Sirius's side of the story, but she ignored it, after consultation with Lily.  
Everything was going fine, Sirius had stopped trying to talk to her, and her heart was slowly beginning to mend. However, after her Ancient Languages class, about a week after the incident, she walked in on something which tore open the wound afresh. James and Sirius were standing on one side of the common room and Remus and Lily on the other. Both parties were shouting at he tops of their voices, and suddenly Jenny saw something. Lily was shouting at James unreservedly, James, the boy Lily loved. Soul mates, fighting, because of something selfish she had done. Sirius was yelling at Remus, his best friend. Two friends, who were like brothers, fighting, because of her. Jenny was woken from her trance by a scream from Remus. He was Transforming!  
"Lily! Go and get Jess from the dorm. He's transforming!" Jenny yelled.  
She quickly turned into her Animagus form, a large Bengal Tiger. She saw James and Sirius Turn into a stag and a Dog. Her brain began to be puzzled, but she quickly decided to save the questions for later. Lily, now a Lion, came rushing down the stairs quickly followed by a Black horse, Jess. Sirius nudged the portrait hole open and all six stumbled out of it. James, Lily, Sirius and Jenny walked in a circle around Remus, ready to launch themselves on him if he made a break for it. Jess led, to get rid of anyone else. Sirius pleaded with Jenny to go, but a growl from her silenced him. They were about 5 metres from the Whomping Willow when they saw a human shadow melt out of the darkness. Shortly, it's owner followed. It was Snape.

Remus twisted and turned as Snape approached the whomping willow with interest. With one final heave, he threw off Jenny and Lunged at Snape, knocking him unconscious. Jenny hit the ground with a sickening crunch, and just lay there pale and still, blood trickling down one side of her face, which had slowly returned to human. Sirius ran over to her, quickly returning to a human, and just looked at her, eyes brimming with tears. Lily saw her friends fall, but she also saw Remus once again lunging for Snape. She motioned to James to get in front of Snape, and then launched her full Lionesses weight on Remus's back, knocking him to the floor. James jumped too, and between them they managed to get Remus into the passageway, and down to the Shrieking Shack. This done, they re-transformed and walked over to where Jenny was laying, still still, and scarily lifeless.  
"Bastard!" Sirius shouted, pain wracking his voice. "If he's done anything to her, I'll...I'll" Sirius clenched his fist and let the tears fall.  
"Sirius, that wasn't Remus." Lily said, quietly, trying to keep the worry out of her voice. "James, get Snape." Lily and James turned to where Snape had been lying moments before, but he wasn't there. They turned to the willow just in time to see a whip of black cloak disappearing through the passageway. Silently, Lily told James to follow, and he obeyed, equally silently. She just saw him turning back into a stag, before she turned back to Sirius and Jenny.  
"Come on Siri." She said quietly, her voice now shaking, "We have to get Jen to the hospital wing."  
  
A week later, six people entered the hospital wing in silence, each bearing equally grim expressions. Lily, James and Remus had been hurt of course, but their minor scratches and bruises had been fixed in an instant. Jen's problem, on the other hand, was more difficult to fix. They all walked over to the bed in the corner, and gazed down at it's white faced occupant in silent misery. Madame Pomfrey came walking over and in a gentle voice, she said, almost gingerly,  
"I only thought it was right to tell you. We had a specialist in here yesterday, and he said if she doesn't come out of this coma soon, we might lose her. I... I'm so sorry." This last said in between sobs. This was the last straw for Lily. She fell onto ground in a dead faint.  
  
The next day, only two figures could be seen in the hospital wing, both speaking quietly. James, on one side of the room, speaking gently to Lily. She hadn't regained consciousness since the previous day. And Sirius, talking lovingly to Jenny.  
"She looks so lifeless." He thought, "as if her life was slowly ebbing away. I couldn't bear to lose her." Out loud he said.  
"Jen, can you hear me? It's Sirius. I'm really sorry. Sorry for everything. I don't know why I did it, I was so stupid. If it wasn't for me this whole thing wouldn't have happened. It's all my fault, I'm so sorry. I just don't know how my life would be without you. I think I'm in love with you Jen."  
"Sirius?" She said weakly, turning over and opening her eyes. "Sirius, what happened?" He didn't answer, but instead engulfed her in an enormous hug.  
"Sirius, why is James here?" Jenny asked, once he had released her.  
"Madame, Pomfrey said we might lose you, and she just keeled over." Sirius explained.  
"What did I look like?" She asked, suspiciously.  
"You were just lying there. Pale and helpless" He said. "Why?"  
"I Thought so!" Jenny exclaimed sitting up fully. "Can you get James over here?"  
"If he'll leave his beloved Lily's side."  
"Thanks"  
A moment later James came walking over, shoulders slumped and face creased with worry.  
"I need you to do something." Jenny said, urgently. "Go to Lily, and tell her I'm awake. Then ask her what happened to her mum. O.K.?"  
"I guess, why?"  
"When Lily was a little girl, she was involved in a car crash. Her and her sister were fine, but Lily's mum went into a coma. She died after 3 months, when Lily was there. From what her and Sirius tell me, I looked a lot like her mum did just before she died. That, combined with the stress of a full scale argument, are probably what did it." Jenny explained, grimly. "Just try it!"  
  
Another week had passed, and Lily and Jenny were just leaving the hospital wing, having been given a clean bill of health.  
"Jenny, I want you to give Sirius another chance." Lil said, spontaneously.  
"Huh?"  
"He adores you. You didn't see what he was like after Remus knocked you over. He was in tears." Lily explained to her friend.  
"I will, if you ask James out." Jenny returned, a smug grin lighting up her face. "You didn't see his face when he woke you up. This is a before and after." She said, first pulling a face like a bloodhound, and then pulling a face like she'd just one the lottery.  
"'Sigh' It's a deal. If only to stop Sirius looking like someone who's life has fallen apart, and then has found out that his cat is dead!" Her friend replied laughing.

The next morning, Jenny and Lily awoke to find themselves alone in the dormitory. Distinctly disgruntled, they both dressed and walked down to breakfast. To their surprise they discovered that it had only just started.  
"Children, Teachers, and Mugwumps!" Professor Dumbledore began, standing up from his chair. "It has come to my attention that people have been looking rather miserable these past few weeks. Therefore I propose a Winter Carnival, and ball, in masquerade. You will not need dates, as you will meet them at the carnival. Also, everyone will go under an assumed name. Now, eat!!!"  
"A ball, that is so cool!" Jess remarked to her friends. "Isn't it lazy bones?!" Lily and Jenny didn't answer. They had other things on their minds.  
~James~  
James looked over to the other end of the table to see Jenny and Lily talking to their friends. Though not very animatedly, he thought. "What if there's something wrong?!" He asked himself, panicking. "I should go talk to her  
  
After breakfast, both Lily and James hurriedly made a break for the door, Lily because she felt like she was going to be sick, and James because he was following Lily. So intent was Lily, that she bashed into James just outside the doors.  
"Oh, I'm so sorry, James?"  
"Lily I need to talk to you."  
"Ditto."  
"Right then!"  
"And with that, he grabbed her hand and hurtled with her down numerous corridors and staircases, until Lily no longer knew where she was. He pulled her into an empty classroom, and said,  
"Where were we?"

"James Potter, what the hell do you think you are doing?" Lily asked, trying o keep the amusement out of her voice. Nevertheless, James spotted it and said  
"You said you needed to talk, and so did I, so we can't get spied on here!\" Brightly.  
"I can't believe I'm asking you this," Lily relented, "But, will you go out with me?" James' face broke into an even wider grin, if that was humanly possible.  
"Yes, Yes, YES!" He said and leant down and kissed her.  
  
Meanwhile, back with Sirius and Jenny, things were also leaning in that direction.  
"Uh, Jen, why did you bring me here?" Sirius asked curiously.  
"To ask some questions and find some answers" was her only reply. "Now then, firstly, why the hell did I see you backing up that girl?" Jenny continued, her voice icy and deadly calm.  
"Because," Sirius replied, utterly seriously,"I was an imbecile, and a faker, and a bastard. Amy Liasson had asked me to help her with the transfig essay. Then she kissed me, and being the lustful bastard I am, totally forgot about you, and kissed her back. Next thing I know I turn around, see you crying, and have an angry Lily and a jealous Amy to deal with. I understand totally if you don't want to give me another chance or anything."  
"How about a trial period?" Jenny asked, swallowing the lump in her throat that had appeared with Amy Liasson in the story. "You have to remember to not kiss any girls for two weeks, and if you can do that, I'll give you another chance, okay?"  
"Perfect." Sirius replied. 'God this is gonna be hard.'  
  
The next day, the eight known as the Marauders and the Sorceresses, were talking in the Gryffindor common room.  
"How, why, and when did you four become animagi?" Remus asked.  
"How, by following instructions from a book in the Library." Jess answered.  
"Why, so we could spy on you four." Jenny continued.  
"And when, half way through third year." Em finished.  
"But how are Tigers, horses and Lions gonna help you spy?" Sirius queried.  
"They aren't our real transformations." Jess explained.  
"Our original ones were two cats and a tawny owl," Jenny added "but when we got angry in our animagi forms, we turned into them. Now we can control it though."  
"Apparently" Em added, as if an afterthought, "those three are emotional animagi. They change forms with their emotions."  
Lily and James had not taken part in this conversation, as they were very involved in whispering sweet nothings into each others ears in the coziest armchair in the room.  
  
The days seemed to simply fly by from that day forth. In no time at all, Jenny and Sirius were back together, Jess had finally confessed her feelings to Remus, and Peter and Em were dating, for some unbeknownst reason. On the day before the winter carnival, all four girls could be found in the 6th year girl's bathroom, brewing a potion, which was going to have a lot of uses.  
"Caterpillar gut, in it goes, dragon scales, in they go, and it's done!" Jenny Le Fae, master potion brewer exclaimed. "Now for our costumes!"  
"I don't wanna look like a prat tomorrow, so make it good Jen" Lily told her friend, anxiously. In a few minutes, Lily's costume was completely done, with the aid of some advanced Transfiguration. It was Russet brown and Cream, with brown beads and gold thread. Her mask was coated in tawny owl feathers. Next, the girls charmed her hair so it was long and brown. Her green eyes also, were turned brown. when she put her costume on, Lily was totally transformed. She was Nimue, bewitcher of Merlin. Jenny was next. Her dress was long and black, with black pearls and silver trim. Her mask was covered in black velvet, with silver sequins in explosion patterns. Her Hair was turned long and black with a simple charm, and she too, was transformed, into Morgan Le Fae. Jess was Given a Black and Midnight blue dress, with a crown of black beads. Her mask was covered in black sequins. As Jenny said, it was Mab Morrigan reborn. Em was the lady of the lake. Her dress was of pure white, with white sequins. Her hair was made a little blonder, and then she too, was done.

The next day, the four sorceresses awoke at 6:30 sharp. Being careful not to wake Dinah, they crept into their bathroom, and began to get changed. At 7 they began to drink the potion they had prepared the night before.  
"What does it do again?" Em asked, before taking her first sip.  
"It reveals the true positioning of the person of your choice. For instance, mine will reveal Sirius, as I put his hair in. Geddit?" Jenny replied, sharply.  
"Now now." Jess put in. "No need for squabbles!"  
"Quite right." Lily agreed, putting on the matronly voice which her friend had used. \"Now drink down your potions quickly or no carnival!"  
"Aww, Mum!" Jenny and Em chorused, mockingly.  
  
At eight, when all the girls were sure they looked perfect, they went out into the grounds, where breakfast was being served. They wandered into a huge Marquee, and exclaimed in astonishment. The inside of the marquee was beautiful. The inside was decorated with icicles, and the ground and walls were covered in frost. In fact, it looked more like the inside of a cave than a tent! Once their amazement had passed, they settled down at one of the small tables, and picked up their menus. As at the hallowe'en feast, they simply said what they would like to their menus, and it appeared on their plates. The girls were the first people to arrive in the marquee, but others began to come in not long afterwards. In a short while they each saw their individual boy enter. The girls smiled at each other, and each knew what the others were thinking.  
  
As soon as the boys had chosen a table, the girls rose and began to slowly make their way over there. The boys noticed the obviously very beautiful girls coming over to their table and immediately forgot about their food. James, always the gentleman, quickly conjured up some chairs, and offered them to the girls. Each girl took one, and settled herself next to her chosen boy. Jenny, obviously next to Sirius, first made a great show of dropping something on the floor, to get his attention. The girls had deliberately chosen low cut dresses for this purpose. Jenny had to bite back her lip to stop a smirk as she felt Sirius's eyes drift to her chest. All four girls were curvy, and the dresses only emphasized the fact. She brought her face up slowly to meet his eyes, and let the smirk free.  
"Shouldn't you learn my name before you start looking down there? I may be old fashioned, but I thought that _was_ the general practice." Jenny asked, sarcastically. Sirius blushed and mumbled something. This was the first time Jenny had ever seen Sirius blush, let alone be at a loss for words. She liked it.  
"Seeing as you aren't gonna ask me my name, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Morgan. Morgan Le Fae." Jenny continued.  
"Oh, um - my name's Arthur. King Arthur, that is." Sirius replied, for some reason stumbling over his words. Morgan reminded him of someone. He wasn't sure quite who, but something about her, maybe the smirk, reminded him of someone.  
"Anyway, _Arthur_, perchance you would like to accompany me around the fair and to tonight's ball?" Jenny asked, once again, to try and make him lose his thread. Once again, it worked.  
"Uuuuuuummm...eeeerrrrrrrr...yeah, sure." Sirius answered, trying to retain his coolness. Morgan/Jenny smiled and led him away out of the Marquee.  
"Fairest maiden seated next to me," James began, as soon as they had left. "Would you do me the honour of telling me your name?"  
"Of course kind sir." Lily replied. "Nimue, and yours?"  
"Merlin. In that case, fair Nimue, would you do me the honour of attending the fair and ball with me?" James answered,  
"How can I refuse?" 'Nimue' stated.  
Jess and Remus, a.k.a., Mab and Archimedes, had been talking through this, and left together after Lily and James. After they had left, Peter turned to Em nervously and asked,  
"Elaine of the Lake, will you go to the ball with me?"  
"Sir Galahad, I would be honoured" Em replied, more enthusiastically than she felt.

The winter carnival was probably the funnest thing that had ever happened at Hogwarts.  Jenny and Sirius opted for enchanted sleighing, Jenny, funnily enough, driving the beautiful reindeer.  Lily and James had gone for the option of Skating, and, seeing as both were experts, put on quite a show for those watching.  At first Lily had found it hard to skate in her long dress, but after getting used to it, she found herself participating in a magnificent series of leaps and jumps, James at her side the whole way.

"I can't believe," She thought to herself, whilst leaning into a soft glide with James, "That a year ago I hated this guy's guts."  She didn't have a chance to ponder the fact any longer, for at that moment, James picked up her slim tall frame and whirled her round in the air.  She needed her concentration to keep from a) kicking him in the face and b) to stop her self from falling.  As he touched her back down on the ice, he began giving stately bows and blowing kisses to the crowd watching.

"On second thoughts," Lily thought, "Yes I can.

                   With Jess and Remus, things were leaning in an altogether more romantic course.  They had taken off their disguises and Remus had shown Jess the old tree house he and the marauders had made in their first year.

"Of course," He said to his beautiful companion.  "None of us have been here since second year, when we discovered the room of requirement.  You know, you just…" Jess cut him off.

"Think of somewhere you really need, and it appears.  Read it in Hogwarts: a History."  She said, in return to his puzzled expression.

"Right."  Remus replied, mind clearly wandering.

"What are you thinking about?"  Jess asked, completely serious.

"It's nothing."

"Are you wondering why it is that I don't care that you're a werewolf, even though you nearly killed one of my best friends?"  She asked, making a shrewd guess.

"Kind of."  Remus answered sheepishly turning around to smile at her, and she smiled back.  He came to sit next to her, and then continued.

"I'm wondering, what's the catch?  I mean, I have a beautiful, kind, caring, clever girlfriend, who doesn't care that I'm a werewolf, and a group of wonderful friends, who'll stick by me no matter what, and likewise, don't care.  No life is this wonderful, therefore there must be a catch."  He stopped, realising how long he'd been talking.  He looked back at Jess, who was no longer smiling.

"I know what the catch is."  She stated, looking deep into her boyfriends blue-grey eyes.  "It's Voldemort."  At the time, neither of them knew the truth of this statement.  In the future though, Remus would come to realise that Jess was right.  As long as he existed, Voldemort would come to be the biggest catch in all their lives, all eight of them.

                   Over to Em and Peter, things were not going as well.  They were at the ring toss, and Peter was desperately trying to win something for his pretty companion.  Em was biting back a smirk, and finally, when Peter was on his last ring, she guided it to the necklace in a box, which was the star prize.  Peter happily presented it to her, and she put it on, smiling at him.  For all his incompetence, Peter was incredibly sweet.

                   Now, let's take a look about 50 feet in the air, where Jenny and Sirius were in the sleigh.  Jenny brought the sleigh to a standstill and said

"You can open your eyes now." in a highly amused voice.

"You're a killing machine!"  Sirius shouted at her.  Suddenly, Professor Dumbledore's magically magnified voice could be heard all over the grounds.

"Everybody, remove your masks and or enchantments.  The carnival will end at 6:00, to give the female members of the school time to prepare.  Enjoy yourselves!"

Sirius looked at Jenny in amazement.

"A) How did we end up together and 2) Where did you learn to do that, killing machine?"

"In answer to your questions, 1) I took a potion to allow me to discern your exact location, and b) My brother taught me on our holiday to Greenland."  Ignoring the mocking tone in her voice, Sirius kept staring at his girlfriend, open-mouthed.

"Anyway, I have some points too."  Jenny continued.  "1) Why does a star Quidditch player get scared out of his mind by a mere 50 feet? _2_) I was just keeping my promise to you, to go to the balls with you, and 3) what the hell are you pointing at?"  For Sirius had just started pointing vigorously behind her.  Jenny turned around in curiosity, slipped on a piece of Ice on the floor, and ended up dangling from one of the runners of the sleigh.  Sirius's voice suddenly returned with a vengeance.

"Jenny, why didn't you look behind you before?  Malfoy was tipping the sleigh with a curse!"

"Well if someone hadn't been too scared to speak maybe I would have known sooner!"

"Well sorry for being scared of something!  You're probably not scared of anything, are you; little miss perfect Jenny Le Fae.  Oh no!  You're Jenny Le Fae, of course you're not!"

"For your information, _Mr Black_, I'm scared of plenty of things.  I'm scared that I might end up like my parents; worshipping the dark arts.  I'm scared that when Voldemort comes knocking on my door, I won't have the courage to say no.  I'm scared that I won't be able to accept death, and end up cursed, like a ghost.  And most of all, I'm scared of what I'm about to do."

                   With that comment, Jenny's last finger slipped from the runner, and she plummeted to the ground.  In shock, Sirius just sat there.  He could not move.  He just saw the figure of his girlfriend falling, and land with a thump on the ground, with a horrible crack, which even he could hear, 50 feet up.  Sirius fainted, and his body fell, as Jenny's had moments before.

                   As may have been expected, neither the marauders nor the sorceresses attended the ball that night.  They simply sat by their friend's bedside, completely silent, waiting for some sign, some action, which might say she was alive.  Sirius sat closest to her, her hand in his.  Inside, his thoughts were tearing him apart.

"This is all Malfoy's fault, the bastard.  If he hadn't been jinxing the sleigh, then, oh, who am I kidding?  The fault's all mine.  If I hadn't lost my voice, because of the height, I would have been able to tell her.  If I hadn't got angry with her, I could have pulled her up, instead of wasting time on a pointless fight.  God, I hate myself.  I know this happened before, but the second blow is always worse than the first.  I'd hate her to die.  Especially if the last word I spoke to her was one of anger.  How could I do this to her?  I love her, and now I've probably killed her.  I don't even care if she never speaks another word to me as long as we live, if she would just wake up.  There's no hope that she'll live.  She was so close to death then, and this time will be worse.  If she dies, I'll kill myself, if that's the only way to go to her.  I couldn't face life without her.  It would be a living hell, every minute.  I wonder who that guy coming over is.  Probably the specialist."

                   "You children are the friends of Miss Le Fae, correct?"

"Yes."  They chorused quietly.

"I have some very bad news for you.  Miss Le Fae received this sort of injury before, and was nearly lost to us as a consequence.  This time, her life is ebbing away at a much faster speed.  If she doesn't wake up in the next week, I'm afraid all may well be lost.  I'm sorry, children.  I'll leave you alone with her."


	2. Awakenings, Truth or dare, and summer

Suddenly, Jenny sat bolt upright, and began to shout,  
  
"Sirius Black! What the hell is your…" But Sirius didn't let her finish. He cupped her face in his hands and kissed her forcefully. When Jenny finally pulled away, she continued,  
  
"Problem? Oh, what the hell!" And kissed him back.  
  
School life went on, as usual, Malfoy being a git, Snape being a slime ball. Except for a few unorthodox incidents. As the marauders, especially James and Sirius, were dating the sorceresses, they were hated by the school's entire male population. The girls, as they were going out with the marauders, were hated by every other girl. And the fan clubs were anything but eager to leave them alone.  
  
Once, Sirius's fan club left a nasty surprise in Jenny's Ancient Languages book, in the form of a gobstone, which squirted undiluted bubotuber pus. Another time, Lily was caught out by an enchanted statue, which performed the bat bogey hex on her every time she walked past. The boys didn't get off easily either. Jenny's supporters had crept into the marauders dormitory once, and cursed Sirius to look like an old woman. Unfortunately, their plan backfired, as Jenny got to spend more time with Sirius, as she was the only one who knew the complicated counter curses. And Lily's fans once attempted to turn James into a table, not that it worked that well.   
  
Apart from these things, however, the excellent eight's lives carried on pretty smoothly, which brings us to a warm night in the middle of the summer term. Lily lay in her bed, tossing and turning. She glanced at her alarm clock face, which glowed in the dark.  
  
"Midnight?" She thought, "I'll never get to sleep now." And with that she rose and crept down the stairs to the common room. There she saw James and Sirius, sitting talking on one of the long sofas.  
  
"Couldn't sleep either?" James asked, sympathetically.  
  
"Nope. So what's happening, pyjama party?"  
  
"Kinda, hi Jen!" Was Sirius's answer.  
  
"Hey. Restless nights for you guys too huh?" Was her lethargic reply.  
  
"Right. I've an idea, truth or dare?" James responded, his eyes glinting.  
  
"Neat, O.K., I'll go first, Dare." Lily said, a wicked grin lighting up her face.  
  
"Right then," Jenny replied, all trace of Lethargy gone. "I dare you to run up and down the corridor outside, doing the chicken dance, and saying 'I'm a chicken, bok bok bok.' Over and over."  
  
"Done." And with that, Lily led them out of the portrait hole, and proceeded to do her dare. She did it, and they returned through the open portrait hole, and carried on with the game.  
  
"Right Jenny." Lily said, mischievously, "Truth or dare?"  
  
"Truth." Was the prompt reply.  
  
"You're no fun." Lily responded, exasperatedly.  
  
"Name all your firsts." Said Sirius.  
  
"If you insist." She replied, but you might not like it. First crush; Paul McCartney, I was only eight, first boyfriend; Gregory Andrews in Ravenclaw. First kiss; that 7th year Gryffindor, David Spinnet, first tongue, Michael Fenton from Hufflepuff, first love; Sirius Black, and first 'time', hasn't been one."  
  
"You were right." Sirius stated, "I didn't like that. Except for the part about me"  
  
"Relax anyway, I gave up dating in 4th year, unlike someone I could mention." Jenny sharply replied. "Anyhoo, Sirius, truth or dare?"  
  
"I'll have a truth this time."  
  
"Fine then, name all your firsts."  
  
"If you're sure, but you might end up hitting me… first crush, Jane Asher, the 'it' girl. First girlfriend; Selena Insidia, 5th year Slytherin, first kiss; Miranda Elvin in Ravenclaw, first tongue; Wendy Mitchell from Hufflepuff, first love; Jennifer Black, I mean, Le Fae, and first 'time'; Michelin Derbyshire at Salem witches institute in America."  
  
"You were right, you know."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I am gonna end up hitting you. How could you (whack) do it with a girl (whack) and then never speak to her again (whack) and Selena Insidia (whack) she's a bloody (whack) Slytherin!"  
  
"Oww, please don't hurt me any more!" Sirius whimpered. Jenny was a very good aim, and she'd aimed for his head.  
  
"You boy abuser, anyway, Jamesie, Truth or Dare?" Sirius continued, still rubbing his head.  
  
"Truth please Bob."  
  
"Name your firsts."  
  
"Bugger you Sirius."  
  
"I hope not."  
  
"First crush; Helen Carter, was a Hufflepuff, left last year, first girlfriend; Eleanor Nissen, a muggle, first kiss; Nicola Mansion in Ravenclaw, first tongue; first love; the one and only Lilums, and first 'time'; hasn't been one. Now Lily, truth or dare?"  
  
"Dare."  
  
"Name your firsts."  
  
"I said dare!"  
  
"So? I dare you to name all your firsts!"  
  
"Bastard, I don't know, bloody git." She muttered to herself. But to the rest she said,  
  
"First crush; George Harrison, first boyfriend; Aaron Mendeylev in Hufflepuff, first kiss; James, first tongue; none. First love; Jamesie boy, and first time; none."]  
  
"Squeaky clean, aren't you Lils?" Jenny commented, sarcastically. "By the way, is anyone getting tired, coz I sure am?"  
  
"Know how you feel sis." Lily replied, accompanied by a huge yawn. The girls rose, and made a move to leave, the boys kissed their girlfriends goodnight, and the girls returned to the tower, leaving the boys behind.  
  
"Guess what, guess what, guess whaat!!" Jenny sang across the breakfast table at her 7 friends. "My parents are away for the summer, so my brother and his wife are coming over! That means you guys can come to my house for the summer!"  
  
"Your brother has a wife? How old is he?" Queried Remus.  
  
"Yes he does, and he's 22 in August." Was the reply.  
  
"Why couldn't we stay at yours anyway?" Asked Sirius confusedly.  
  
"I'll answer, Jenny's parents are dark arts freaks, like your parents, except worse." Lily answered. "And they hate anyone who isn't a dark arts freak."  
  
"Anyway, I'll be able to have all you guys at my house for weeks! We can see the lake, and the merpeople, and the unicorns, and the dragons!" Jenny continued, bouncing up and down in excitement.  
  
"You have Dragons near your house? Where do you live?" Asked James, incredulously.  
  
"On the mystical Isle of Avalon. It's unplottable, so it's ministry approved for a dragon sanctuary."  
  
"Where is Avalon?" Was Peter's confused question.  
  
"In the sea between Britain and Ireland. It was where King Arthur was laid to rest. It's fantastic!" Jenny replied. "And I bet we'll have a lot of fun." 


	3. The End of Year Ball

A few weeks later, the exceptional eight were in the great hall, having an exceptionally noisy breakfast, when Professor Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat. The hall fell silent immediately, and he began to speak.  
  
"I am here to announce that, because a large number of the school were unable to attend the masquerade ball at Christmas." With this his twinkling eyes passed over the marauders and the marauderettes. "We are going to have an end of year ball instead. Thank you, you may now resume your gorging."  
  
"What did he look at us for?" Jenny asked indignantly. "How did we do anything?"  
  
"When you fell off the sleigh." Remus began, " A large crowd of your admirers assembled outside the hospital wing. It was all Sirius could do to get them to bugger off before you came out. With the aid of some rather nasty hexes, I might add."  
  
"But I did it with a smile!" Sirius added, plastering a large cheesy grin on his face.  
  
"Sirius, don't do that, it makes you look like…" Lily started.  
  
"Remus on the rampage." James continued.  
  
"I'd hate to think that, even in my werewolf form, I look anything like that imbecilic piece of shit who is giving us a demonstration of dentistry."  
  
"Remus, what have we told you about long words in the mornings?" Asked Em, lifting her golden head off of the table, where it had dropped the minute before.  
  
"Yeah Remus." Jenny teased. "Having lived with the marauders for 6 years, you of all people should know that their early morning vocabulary consists of…"  
  
"Slytherin-bad, food-good." Lily broke in.  
  
"I object!" James said to his girlfriend in a standoffish voice. "Everyone knows that it also includes pranks-funny."  
  
"And fireworks-pranks." Added Sirius.  
  
"Don't forget homework-boring." Peter put in.  
  
"Anyway, however boring homework may be, you guys have mountains of it, so Library, now!" Remus finished.  
  
And with that, the marauders dragged themselves away from the table, following Remus, each muttering something like 'homework Nazi' under their breath. Moments later, however, they were back.  
  
"What did you do to Remus?" asked Em, once again rearing her head.  
  
"Cursed him, stupefied him, and stuck him to the wall." Sirius promptly replied.  
  
"Are you serious?" Lily queried.  
  
"And you say Remus doesn't know us?"  
  
Later that day, the girl's, minus Em, as she had Divination, were walking to transfiguration, when Lily realised that she'd left her books in the dorm. The girls quickly sprinted up the stairs to get them, because their transfiguration class was 5th floor, and Gryffindor tower on 7th. Lily mumbled the password to the fat lady, and her and Jenny, being quicker than Jess, threw themselves up the stairs, Jess having just entered the portrait hole. Lily threw open the trunk at the base of her bed, and a foul smelling liquid sprayed out, coating Jenny and Lily completely, and even splashing Jess, who stood by the door. Then, once the shower had stopped, a notice popped out. It said; 'Give us back our Potter!' Jess was the first to break the silence.  
  
"You guys need to change, and go to the hospital wing, to check if it's anything nasty. We should be back for half of Transfig."  
  
"Rightyo, Parche." Jenny replied, drying her robes at the same time. Suddenly, green hair began to pop up on Lily and Jenny's faces.  
  
"Lucky I know the counter curse, huh?" commented Jenny. "Ninesae Vospetua." The green hair disappeared, but Jess's face began to go red with rage.  
  
"I am sick and tired of these stupid love sick girls playing tricks on us the whole time. I call a gang meeting. Something has to be done!"  
  
Later that night, in the room of requirement all the gang sat round. It was normally James or Sirius who called these meetings, but this time Jess had the floor.  
  
"I am sick and tired of these love sick bitch and gits trying to kill us the whole time! Therefore, we need a plan of action. Agreed?"  
  
"Agreed." The others chorused.  
  
"Does anyone have a plan?"  
  
"I do!" Said Lily, standing up to take the floor from Jess. "If we pretend to break up in the great hall tomorrow, then they'll leave us alone, and then, we go to the ball with other people, so our fans are happy, and your fans are happy. It doesn't mean we can't do coupley things, it just means we should do them in secret."  
  
"Well said!" Jumped up Sirius and began clapping.  
  
"I second that motion!" Jenny also rose, and clapped along.  
  
"In that case," Jess began, "Motion carried!"  
  
At around nine o'clock the same evening, the gang were sitting in their respective couples, planning tomorrow's break-ups. They were all having fun, but Sirius and Jenny went a bit overboard. They were actually scripting theirs!  
  
"I think at this part, I should say, you ungrateful bitch!" Sirius commented to Jenny, who was holding the paper.  
  
"Only if I get to say, well you treated me like an old carpet!"  
  
"O.k. then, I don't know how you treat someone like an old carpet, but anyway."  
  
Remus and Jess watched from the shadowy armchair from where they were curled up.  
  
"I can't wait," Remus started, "Tomorrow is going to be hilarious!"  
  
The next morning, Remus awoke to find everyone around him already up. Quickly, he dressed and went down to breakfast. The sight that met his eyes when he entered the great hall was enough to make his sides split with laughter. Sirius and Jenny had the floor, and were standing opposite each other, screaming gat the tops of their voices. James and Lily sat at Gryffindor table, back to back. Remus guessed that they had already done their part. Suddenly, Sirius began shouting what Remus had heard them scripting last night.  
  
"You ungrateful bitch!" At this, Jenny came closer and slapped him round the face.  
  
"How dare you call me that when you treated me like an old carpet!?"  
  
"You know what, I don't need this juvenile argument!"  
  
"Look who's talking, Mr Teen Immaturity! Anyway, I think it's pretty clear, what comes next. Bye!"  
  
And with that, she stalked over to Lily, grabbed her arm, and marched her out of the hall. A moment later, Sirius repeated that gesture exactly, except in a mockery of his girlfriend. Remus was about to follow them, when he noticed everyone staring.  
  
"What?" He said, in his best stroppy voice.  
  
Outside the great hall, he found everyone doubled up, laughing his or her head off. He shepherded them to the room of requirement, as their next period was free, and joined them. After about five minutes, the laughter subsided, but then Lily remarked,  
  
"Do you remember? Treat me like an old carpet!" And everyone fell back into giggles.  
  
After this hilarious incident, the fan clubs pretty much left the eight alone, although they did get asked out rather a lot. However, they needed dates for the ball, so they pretty much decided on the spot. Lily ended up going with a cute, but brainless, Hufflepuff, named Eric Swanson. Jenny had ensnared a handsome, but mean, Slytherin, Lucius Malfoy by name. It was a mystery why she decided to say yes to him, but she said it was because he was the only intelligent boy who asked her. This could have been partly due to the fact that the boys of the school didn't want to enrage Sirius, who was capable of some not nice things. Sirius was going with a Ravenclaw called Sabrina Widdershins, who happened to be one of Amy Liasson's friends, and James with Dinah, but strictly as friends. On the night of the ball, all the 5 girls were in their dorms, making final preparations. Lily's dress was a long, flowing and one shouldered, cream silk. Her hair was swept up elegantly, with a few wavy tendrils framing her face. She also wore a simple tiara, inset with pearls. As the outfit flowed down her body, it showed off her subtle curves to perfection, and also made her look a few inches taller. Jenny wore a dark red satin off the shoulder gown, which kicked out at the bottom, showing the pink silk lining. The dress clung to her curves and would have made any boy in his right mind keel over. Her hair was layered around her face, and the tips dyed bright red. Her porcelain skin was made to look almost ivory, and she had never looked more angelic. Around her neck, she wore a gold chain, on which hung a tiny red heart. It had been her Christmas present from Sirius. Jess wore a spaghetti strap midnight blue number, with silver and blue sequins dotted all over it. Her hair too, was up, but in an elegant half and half, tied with a midnight velvet ribbon. The silver chain around her neck, coupled with the silver eyeshadow, made her look something like the night sky would, if viewed through a frosty window. Em wore a beautiful strapless dress of pale pink, and with her hair straightened to loose ringlets, she looked something like Glenda in the wizard of Oz, what with the silver tiara. Dinah's change was the most surprising. Instead of the normal two plaits, her black hair was in two French plaits braided together at the base of her neck. Her green silk strapless showed off curves that the girls never knew she had, and her tanned, clear skin made a perfect contrast. Her hazel eyes glittered in anticipation, and she was the most beautiful the girls had ever seen her. All five walked down the stairs carefully, trying not to rip their dresses. The girl's dates and the Gryffindor boys, who were waiting outside the portrait hole, gazed at them in amazement. Sirius even had his mouth hanging open. As Jenny glided past him, she whispered in his ear.  
  
"You could catch flies like that." At her warm breath, a shiver ran down Sirius's spine. How much could he stand of his girl dancing with that prat Malfoy? Not much, his brain answered. Malfoy and Jenny took the lead, Malfoy refusing to be seen with the marauders. The others followed, dawdling slightly, talking amongst themselves at Jenny's choice of date. With Jenny and Malfoy, however, things were taking an altogether different course to what the others suspected.  
  
"Jennifer, my dear, you look enchanting tonight!"  
  
"Thank you Lucius. You don't look so bad yourself. Tell me, what do your Slytherin minions think of you attending the ball with me?"  
  
"Beautiful and sharp witted. She is indeed a finer woman than I believed at first. My kind of girl, if only her evil streak were a bit more pronounced." Lucius thought to himself, though to Jenny he said,  
  
"As you are a pure blood and moat of your family were in Slytherin, they have no objection. You didn't ask to be in Gryffindor, did you?" Malfoy neglected to mention that he had threatened everybody in his house with death if they even attempted to take the piss.  
  
"Actually…" Jenny naughtily replied, but she never finished because at that moment the couple entered the hall. It was amazing. Everything had somehow been transformed into a rose garden like courtyard. The quiet chatter suddenly ceased too, at the site of who they thought was Sirius's ex, at the ball with Lucius Malfoy. In a minute or two the quiet chatter rose again, and a slow waltz started.  
  
"May I have this dance?" Malfoy asked, his silky, yet not slimy voice ringing with confidence.  
  
"Of course." Jenny replied courteously, but a little preoccupied. She had just remembered something that Sirius had told her.  
  
"Lucius, was it you tipping the sleigh when Sirius and I were on it at Christmas?" She asked, as her date walked her to the dance floor.  
  
"I was, but I did not bet on that idiot being scared of heights. I only did it because he was on the sleigh anyway. I never intended you to fall." Was the silky reply.  
  
Jenny was quiet for a moment, turning things over in her mind, and decided it would be better to change the subject.  
  
"Your father, he is Lord Vladimir Malfoy is he not?" Jenny asked, although she already knew the answer perfectly well.  
  
"Yes, he is indeed." Malfoy replied, knowing that this meant she was getting bored.  
  
"Lucius, would you mind if I sat down for a little while?"  
  
"No. Sit to your heart's content."  
  
Jenny left his arms and walked across the dancefloor to where Lily was sitting.  
  
"Just managed to get away from your date too huh?" Lily asked, sympathetically.  
  
"Yep. God, he's so boring. All he does is insult Sirius 24:7, I wish I'd gone with David Molloy." Jenny moaned.  
  
"Hello ladies! Thoroughly bored yet?" Sirius queried as he walked over to them.  
  
"How did you guess?" Jenny said, sarcasm becoming prominent.  
  
"May I have this dance?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
Malfoy watched this exchange from where he was dancing with Narcissa Black, a fellow Slytherin, and Sirius's cousin. He felt jealousy boil in his blood. How could he, Lucius Malfoy, lose his date to her ex-boyfriend, and that idiot Black of all people! He would just have to go and reclaim her! He let Narcissa go, and stalked over to where Elissa Everton, another Slytherin, was sitting. He whispered something in her ear, and she smiled cruelly and nodded. The next song that came on was the Wizarding waltz, a fast dance which included plenty of partner swapping. Malfoy stood up with Elissa, and began the lively dance.  
  
Jenny and Sirius also quickened their pace when the new music began. Both being purebloods, they had been taught the dance in early infancy. Jenny never really understood the point of this dance, seeing as it was incredibly complicated and long. Maybe it was intended for a social mixer. Her thoughts stopped there however, as all her thoughts had to be concentrated on moving her feet. As the first partner swap imposed, Malfoy and Elissa approached Sirius and Jenny. Each bowed to the other, and Malfoy whisked Jenny away.  
  
It wasn't that he was a bad dancer, Jenny reasoned, but she just didn't feel right in his arms. Sure he was her date and everything, but she really would have preferred dancing with James or Sirius, as the partnering had previously been arranged. Suddenly, it occurred to Jenny that Malfoy was leading her very far away from the crowd of dancers.  
  
"Lucius," She began, "Don't you think we should move a bit closer to the crowd? It's almost time for the next partner swap."  
  
Sirius had also noticed that Malfoy was leading Jenny away, but was helpless, as Elissa was steadfastly steering him. Luckily, James spotted his peril and him and Lily came over to him.  
  
"Eye on Jenny." Sirius whispered in James' left ear.  
  
"Righto chum." James grimly replied. He hated going near Malfoy. Him and Lily suddenly began dancing very quickly over to near Malfoy and Jenny.  
  
"My dear, I think we should take a breath of fresh air." Lucius replied, and pulled her quickly out onto one of the balconies that had been set up specially. Malfoy sat down, pulled Jenny down too, and began to lean in for a kiss.  
  
His lips were about to meet hers when Jenny's instincts came into play. She pulled back form Malfoy, and slapped him around the face.  
  
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Asked Jenny, her voice fiery like Lily's.  
  
"Bu…but…"  
  
"You know something, I don't want to know what you have to say Malfoy! Silencio. Now, Herensa Arania!"  
  
Just as Malfoy's face began to blister out into purple pustules, James and Lily rushed in. James grabbed Malfoy's long pale hair, and punched him in the face.  
  
"Er, Jay?" Lily asked. "Could you stop pummelling Malfoy so we can hear the story?"  
  
"He brought me out here, and was about to kiss me, when I slapped him round the face and cursed him, as you can see."  
  
"Well then, James, stop hitting Malfoy. He's had enough punishment." Lily remarked to her other half.  
  
"But this is for Sirius!"  
  
"All right then."  
  
After that exchange however, James put Malfoy down, and followed the girls back into the Great Hall. Jenny made a beeline for Elissa and Sirius, and requested,  
  
"May I cut in?"  
  
"Where's your date gone?"  
  
"He's unconscious on that balcony. Maybe you'd like to take a look."  
  
And with that comment, Elissa ran towards the balcony, in an obvious panic. Jenny took her place, and they began waltzing again, as the wizard's waltz still hadn't finished. Jenny looked up at Sirius, and said, eyes twinkling like crazy,  
  
"Sam, I've got the feeling that this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."  
  
And mirroring the conversation of many years before perfectly, Sirius answered  
  
"Huh?"  
  
And in true Jenny style, she replied,  
  
"Muggle Film reference." 


End file.
